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Compensation & Benefits

Court to decide: Is PTO a property right?

09/19/2014
Public employers have greater con­sti­­tutional obligations to their employees than private employers do. Public employers have to give employees some sort of due process before termination because a job is a protected property interest. Now a court is considering whether changing the terms of a PTO bank is also protected.

When undocumented immigrants sue over pay

09/19/2014

Simply put, immigration status isn’t relevant to whether an employer violated the FLSA by paying less than minimum wage or failed to pay proper overtime. However, if the worker is cooperating with the DOL in an FLSA case, the employer may demand to know whether the worker may receive something of value for his testimony.

Do personal finance problems affect attendance?

09/19/2014
Nearly two-fifths of HR pros believe employees’ financial woes contribute to absenteeism.

New Minnesota law aims to close gender gap in the workplace

09/17/2014
With great fanfare, Minnesota’s new Women’s Economic Secu­­rity Act was signed into law on Mother’s Day in May 2014. WESA is aimed at closing the gender gap by breaking down barriers to economic progress for women. It creates a number of new legal requirements and amends various existing laws.

Brooklyn Park, Minn. mulls statute requiring paid parental leave

09/17/2014
Brooklyn Park may become the first city in Minnesota to offer paid parental leave to its employees.

Tire company puts equal pay dispute in rear-view mirror

09/17/2014
A female HR director delivered St. Cloud-based Royal Tire a kick when she sued the company for an Equal Pay Act violation.

Title company sued over alleged prevailing wage violations

09/17/2014
The U.S. Labor Department has filed suit against White Bear Lake-based Northwest Title, alleging the company failed to pay prevailing wages when it handled real estate closings for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The company held the HUD contract from April 2010 to April 2012.

Time records matter! Make sure time clock system lets workers enter OT hours

09/17/2014

Do you have a time clock system that employees use to record the hours they work? Make sure it allows hourly employees to record the overtime they work. Otherwise, they may later argue that they worked overtime hours and your time-keeping system was designed to discourage them from tracking those extra hours and getting paid overtime.

Business facing financial difficulties? Don’t let supervisors alter hours worked

09/17/2014
Faced with declining revenues and staff shortages that mean more overtime hours, managers may be tempted to adjust time records to reflect fewer hours worked. But this is a dangerous tactic.

Stillwater, Okla. restaurant adds ‘minimum wage fee’ to checks

09/17/2014
Things are not peaceful at the Oasis Café in Stillwater. When the state’s higher minimum wage took effect on Aug. 1, the restaurant began charging a 35-cent “minimum wage fee” on each order. Restaurant management claims the charge is to highlight the burden the wage hike places on small businesses.